Market LiveCode as an "Application" Internet Browser

[ooper]

LiveCode is already a platform that has the potential to disrupt the browser market. In fact, an "application browser" already exists in LiveCode: the Control Center.

Why not capitalize on this and provide Livecode developers with a Marketplace? I think that new breeds of developers would drool on it.

Think about it. People are evermore accepting of having more than one browser in their systems. LiveCode apps can host web pages inside stacks, which provide for interesting social layering. Indeed, ANY page can be a social site!

Add a runtime to Control Center and give the new Application Browser away for free. Make money --lots of it, on the marketplace. Clouding shared data is another side benefit RunRev can capitalize on this idea...

[FourthWorld]

LiveCode is already a platform that has the potential to disrupt the browser market. In fact, an "application browser" already exists in LiveCode: the Control Center.

I'm intrigued by the idea, but I'm not sure I understand: What is the "Control Center"?

Are you referring to RevOnline (in the toolbar as "User Samples")?

In many ways it seems RevOnline incorporates much of what you describe.

There's also RevNet, available in the IDE via Development -> Plugins -> GoRevNet

In the early days RevNet was the place where developers could share stacks, and I've maintained the Stacks section there even though the later addition of RevOnline has largely displaced it for that role.

But there are a few extra goodies in the works for RevNet, and I'm quite open to collaboration on other things it can be used for. If you feel RevNet could evolve to better fit your vision for what you'd like to see, feel free to drop me a note at ambassador@fourthworld.com and let's discuss it.

As a part of LiveCode Journal, RevNet is ideally a community resource. The volume of client work I do here prevents me from spending as much time on it as I'd like, but as a community resource I'm very open to exploring all sorts of ways we can work collaboratively so it can become ever more useful for the LiveCode developer audience.

[jacque]

I'm intrigued by the idea, but I'm not sure I understand: What is the "Control Center"?

It's the first window that opens when the IDE launches, with options to open your latest stacks, view tutorials and sample code, etc. Some of us have turned that off in prefs so you may have forgotten about it. I haven't seen it in years, it was one of the first things I disabled. Many users find it very handy though.

To the original question: there is already a vendors market at the RR store, but it consists only of tools for developers. It is carefully vetted. To implement a market that sells more general stacks and apps, I think RR would need more resources than they have right now in order to ensure that only quality uploads were accepted. Since we have the ability to save standalones and upload them to any existing marketplace, I'm more in favor of that approach. One reason is that it takes our work out of the RR walled garden and presents it to the world, increasing exposure and possibly uptake.

[ooper]

Hi Richard,

Sorry, YES, I was referring to RevOnline (in the toolbar as "User Samples"). Thanks for asking and allowing me to clarify.

I think the RevOnline, or the "RevNet" stacks running as a standalone LiveCode engine that can run stacks would be awesome to release as an Application Internet browser. Gosh, it even has search capabilities...

I have no doubt in my mind that such a platform would be viral and would put LiveCode on the mainstream map, along with its developers.

With a little bit of work, such as adding Single Signon, RunRev could make a whole new business out of licensing this platform to the enterprise who could run their own enterprise-wide instances.

I hope RunRev, the company, can see the value of this...

Regards,
/Carl

[FourthWorld]

With a little bit of work, such as adding Single Signon, RunRev could make a whole new business out of licensing this platform to the enterprise who could run their own enterprise-wide instances.

I agree. In fact, I made RevNet in hopes of inspiring exactly that, providing an example of free code showing how easy it is to distribute applications as compressed stack files over HTTP.

The challenge for enterprise use is getting enough people within the organization who can author things in LiveCode.

And unfortunately, the competition for distributing apps over HTTP is pretty significant: the World Wide Web.

Everyone knows HTML/JS/CSS, and those who don't can usually find tools for publishing content very easily even without that knowledge.

Moreover, a great many IT staff running the enterprise make it difficult to deploy a standalone app, even one that uses the secureMode (check it out in the Dictionary, it's kinda cool for this sort of thing).

That said, I'm maintaining RevNet with some modest ambitions going forward, so while the opportunity for the enterprise space may be questionable there are many ways we LC devs can take advantage of this.